Usain Bolt is no longer a nine-time Olympic gold medalist. In news that's been expected for months, Jamaica's gold medal from the 4x100 meter relay in Beijing has been stripped because of a doping violation committed by another member of the team, Nesta Carter. IOC rules dictate that if a member of a relay team is caught doping, the entire team is disqualified. As a result, Bolt's "triple triple" is no longer a thing. (Except it still is.)
Naturally and understandably, Bolt is not happy about this. Instead of the historic "triple triple," he's now one behind Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi for the most track & field gold medals in Olympic history. But he knows the rules, and he handed over his gold medal without incident. In fact, the way Bolt's handled the situation makes you admire the great champion even more. He's angry, but he can't do anything about it, so there's no point in dwelling on it. Yet another lesson other athletes could learn from Usain Bolt.
Although, this situation brings up a whole nother element of the doping crisis that needs to be considered. Is it fair to punish an entire team because of one member's doping offense? Especially since this rule doesn't apply in all sports. In a team sport, just the athlete is disqualified. So why is it different with a relay?
A relay team can lose its medals even if a runner who only participates in the prelims is caught doping, despite the fact that said runner really has nothing to do with the actual winning of the medal. And, let's be honest, Nesta Carter's not the reason Jamaica won that relay. Usain Bolt is. They could've pulled three random guys out of the stands, given them Jamaican jerseys and a baton to pass to Bolt, and Jamaica still would've won.
And, as I've already mentioned, that's not the case in every sport. Remember the men's hockey gold medal game in Sochi? One of the Swedish defensemen was mysteriously missing. It turns out he had failed a doping test and was suspended for the gold medal game as a result. But Sweden didn't have to forfeit all of their previous games that he had played in, nor was the team disqualified. They kept their silver medals.
Even in track & field, we've seen selective enforcement on relay disqualifications and medal reallocations. Both U.S. women's relays from Sydney were DQ'ed because of Marion Jones, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the disqualifications, stripping only Jones of her medals while keeping the official order of finish in tact. As a result, her relay teammates kept their gold (4x400) and bronze (4x100) medals.
The reason given for allowing Jones' teammates to keep their medals is because the rules at the time didn't call for the other members of a team to lose their medals because of one athlete. Those rules have, obviously, since been changed. So, as a result, Usain Bolt is just as "guilty" as Nesta Carter, despite how ridiculous that sounds.
I'm sure there's going to be an appeal, so we don't know how this is all going to play out. But I think the disqualification is likely to stand and Trinidad & Tobago will be upgraded to the gold medal. (There was national euphoria in the Caribbean nation yesterday after the decision was officially announced.) It definitely makes this topic worth revisiting, though. Because you're not just punishing the guilty. You're punishing athletes whose guilt (at least as far as we know) is only by association, as well.
None of this will have any affect on Usain Bolt's legacy, either. He's still the greatest sprinter ever to walk the face of the Earth and one of the biggest stars in the history of track & field. What he's done is remarkable, and this doesn't change the fact he's the only man to win both the 100 and 200 twice (let alone three times). That legacy was forged nine years ago with Part I of his historic triple-triple. Even if he now only has two gold medals from Beijing.
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